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Louise and Daves tour du monde - Clan Graham

Ola?!, that's Spanish for how do?! Were setting off for our world trip on June 30th 2008! First stop Argentina for some skiing and steak, then a tour of South America; Brazil (whole length of Amazon River and some footy in Rio), Peru (Inca trail, can't wait), Bolivia (Lake Titicaca) and Chile (nice Vino!). 5 months later we'll be in NZ for a month. We'll be there for Christmas and fingers crossed they'll be filming The Hobbit (I could see myself as an Orc or a Troll!). Then Oz for 4 months (not going to mention cricket, but I think it'd be rude not to talk about rugby to our Oz friends!). Starting in Sydney for New Year and the last 2 months will be a hectic tour of Bali, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, India (curry will be the order of every day!) and finally back to sunny Lancashire. This site is for all dearly loved friends and family and any random joes, but I don't love you yet! All photos not for parental viewing will go on Facebook! Most of you who visit this page will know who we are so I won't bore you. Were cousins from North West England (near Manchester just in case your geography is limited!). Neither of us speak Spanish (not for want of trying though) which will be interesting in South America! We both quit our jobs for this trip and neither of us regret it, not yet anyway! Last, but not least (and were certainly starting in the right continent for it) were footy mad. Louise is a Man U fan and I support a slightly less successful team; Preston North End! I'll update this blog as often as I can, though I'm not sure how many internet cafes they'll have on the Amazon. Please feel free, infact no, I will be frankly offended if people don't keep me informed on how PNE are doing, so I want the scores posting and league positions updated regularly! The PNE vs Blackpool score is essential. Come on you lilywhites! Love to you all! Dave

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Joined on: June 26th 2008
Last Login: December 11th 2009

Blog Entries: 28
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by Louise and Daves tour du monde, order by Date newest first.

By Louise and Daves tour du monde
May 10th 2009

Sorry for serious laziness! Asia » Singapore » Chinatown

Hello everyone don't get excited, just to say sorry I haven't updated since Santiago (I know I'm rubbish), but I will do a blog for New Zealand and Australia soon. In Singapore now and it's bloody roasting; back to sweating like I did in the Amazon - lovely! Update soon I promise. Chao for now! David X [View Full Entry]

By Louise and Daves tour du monde
December 1st 2008

Don't believe the hype South America » Chile » Valparaíso Region » Valparaíso

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Valparasio is a short bus trip away from Santiago, about 2 hours. Unlike Santiago, Valparasio is bigged up a lot! Loads of people we met raved about this place as did the travel guides, but Santiago was much better than people had let on. This place definately does not deserve the hype around it. We were told of stunning streets and fantastic beaches. The beaches are mediocre (even the ones down the coast in Vina del Mar) and while there are some nice streets, they are few and far between. Don't get me wrong Valparasio and Vina del Mar are nice, [View Full Entry]

By Louise and Daves tour du monde
December 1st 2008

Don't believe the lack of hype South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago

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Most people finish or start their South America trip in Santiago and the general consesus wasn't great, but yet again we were nicely suprised with Santiago. I really enjoyed our stay there & it proved yet again that you have to take what fellow travellers tell you with a pinch of salt. Maybe Santiago was such a huge change from Northern Brasil, Peru and Bolivia because it appears to be the wealthiest country in South America by a long shot and it could sit high and proud amounst most European cities. So it was kind of nice to have some of [View Full Entry]

By Louise and Daves tour du monde
December 1st 2008

Oh my god, a Merc! South America » Chile » Antofagasta Region » San Pedro de Atacama

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Really from Rio de Janeiro we hadn't been in any affluent area's so when I saw a brand new Merc pull up at the immigration office, it suddenly dawned on me that we were back in the first world and it was quite a shock coming from Bolivia, the poorest country in Latin America. I'm not saying that you have to be in a poor country to meet real people or to see real things, but when you have been used to people living in pretty crap conditions it's surreal to be dumped back in Western civilisation. There had been something [View Full Entry]

By Louise and Daves tour du monde
December 1st 2008

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Salar de Uyuni

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Most say "Machu Picchu is an absolute must", many say "Iguazu is unmissable". The Galapagos Islands, the rainforest and others are usually close behind and while I find comparing these sites in South America both difficult and also almost irrelevant and pointless, after seeing the Uyuni Salt Flats and Eduardo Avaroa National Reserve, it boggles the mind why they aren't raved about on the same scale that the other gringo 'must see' sites are. My opinion, after seeing this wilderness, is that if they cannot be compared on a par with Iguazu and Machu Picchu then it can only exceed them. [View Full Entry]

By Louise and Daves tour du monde
December 1st 2008

The ugly face of capitalism South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Potosi

Rail wagons that needed to be avoided!

Back on the dubious buses and yes, we had the obligatory breakdown on a mountain pass and annoying kids on the seat behind, screaming and kicking, but after a beautiful and eventful climb through the Bolivian Andes we arrived in the highest city in the world; Potosi. Sat in front of the city is an almost perfect, conical mountain that is savagely scarred. From base to summit it is shredded by hundreds of years mining and the result is an ugly heap, but this is the reason people come to Potosi. It was once one of the richest cities in the [View Full Entry]

By Louise and Daves tour du monde
December 1st 2008

The White City South America » Bolivia » Chuquisaca Department » Sucre

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Sucre is the perfect antidote to La Paz. Very relaxed, long tree lined streets, a stunning central plaza, magnificent whitewashed colonial buildings and a year round perfect climte, but above all, it has oxygen! We had been above 3000 meters for nearly 2 months and it can get tiresome being out of breath just getting in the shower. Sucre is the actual capital of Bolivia and it's hard to tell that you are in Bolivia at first. Sucre seems to be pretty affluent and it felt a little like Argentina, none the less, it is Bolivia and it has its own [View Full Entry]

By Louise and Daves tour du monde
November 25th 2008

Floating islands are sinking South America » Peru » Puno » Lake Titicaca » Uros Island

Floating Islands

So we had found a bus company that were prepared to take us through the striking farmers passage of violence, though the downside was that it was a proper tour bus and we had to become one of the things I never wanted to become; a tourist following some leader like a lemming, telling us facts that were complete bollocks, but it was a small price to pay to be finally escaping Cusco. It had become a dangerous place for me, especially on the physco women front. Anyway, we visited Inca sites that were complete rubbish and apparently only 1% original [View Full Entry]

By Louise and Daves tour du monde
November 25th 2008

Subdued birthday celebrations! South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » Copacabana

The storm rolls in

Bolivia as it turns out, was possibly the easiest border crossing of all. We were in the country where Che Guevara was savagely murdered by CIA backed agents, the country that now ironically has a President who´s motive is "movement towards socialism" which I am very happy about and the country that probably produces the highest quality cocaine in the world! I knew we were in for an interesting time in Bolivia, but it was a rather timid, but beautiful start. Copacabana, the Bolivian counterpart to Puno and much more attractive and also the reason for the famous namesake beach in [View Full Entry]

By Louise and Daves tour du monde
November 25th 2008

Death roads, prisons, Evo Morales........what a city! South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » La Paz

Anoth cross marks the spot

La Paz is mental. Quite simply mental, but brilliant mental! It sits very proudly in an almost crater, surrounded by vast snow capped mountains and is full of crazy people. The traffic is unbelievable and how we survived the cars I will never know. They sell lama foetuses for good luck, send you down roads with the highest death rate in the world, round prisons full of murderers, rapists and narcotrafficers with a handful of tiny bodyguards after you have paid off the police of course and we did it all! When we arrived in our hostel, Muzz found one of [View Full Entry]

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Louise and Daves tour du monde - Clan Graham

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